Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; S&P Global To Buy IHS Markit For $44B

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.95% to 29,626.44 while the NASDAQ fell 0.12% to 12,190.71. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.40% to 3,623.96.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 13,385,490 cases with around 266,880 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,431,690 confirmed cases and 137,130 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,314,740 COVID-19 cases with 172,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 62,829,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,460,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares rose 0.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included G1 Therapeutics, Inc. GTHX, up 21%, and AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. AQB, up 27%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

S&P Global Inc. SPGI confirmed early Monday it is acquiring IHS Markit Ltd. INFO in a deal that values the latter at $44 billion, including $4.8 billion of net debt.

As part of the deal, each share of the IHS Markit common stock will be exchanged for 0.2838 shares of S&P Global common stock.

Equities Trading UP

China Automotive Systems, Inc. CAAS shares shot up 73% to $6.62 after the company announced a significant increase in sales to Chinese electric vehicle companies.

Shares of Marathon Patent Group, Inc. MARA got a boost, shooting 32% to $5.66 after declining over 16% on Friday. Two Point One, LLC, last week, disclosed a 5.7% active stake in Marathon Patent Group.

AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. AQB shares were also up, gaining 31% to $5.43.

Equities Trading DOWN

Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN shares tumbled 27% to $2.95 following a media report that the company may file for bankruptcy as soon as this week.

Shares of Nikola Corporation NKLA were down 24% to $21.33 after the company signed an MOU with General Motors that does not include the previously contemplated GM equity stake in Nikola or the development of the Nikola Badger. The Badger program was dependent on an OEM partnership.

MOGU Inc. MOGU was down, falling 20% to $2.20 after reporting Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6% to $44.81, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,774.40.

Silver traded down 1.6% Monday to $22.270 while copper rose 1.5% to $3.4695.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.3%, French CAC 40 fell 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%.

Spanish national consumer price index declined 0.8% on an annual basis in November.

Economics

The Chicago PMI declined to 58.2 in November versus a reading of 61.1 in October.

The pending home sales index fell 1.1% for October, versus analysts’ expectations for a 1% rise.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for November is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for October will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.